Ask John: What American Work Could Become a Good Anime?

Question:
What American product would you like to see made into an anime? I know this question is purely fanboy in nature, but I like to indulge now and then just for fun. One example is that Christian Gosset, creator of the comic book The Red Star, once said that it’s his dream to have The Red Star made into an anime. Personally, I would love to see that happen as well. Now I know that it wouldn’t actually be considered an anime but what American product, be it a novel, comic, TV show, movie or video game would you like to see made into an anime?

Answer:
My instinctual first response to this question was basically no response at all. To be more specific, the first title that appeared in my mind was the Highlander film franchise. But that’s not a pipe dream because Madhouse Studios has already confirmed plans to produce a Japanese animated Highlander film. Likewise many of the other potential source I can think of have also already been represented in anime. For example, Kurt Wimmer’s awesome action film Equilibrium came to mind, but anime including Grenadier and Trinity Blood have already adopted the most memorable sequences from this influential 2002 movie.

I find that I don’t have as much time to read these days as I used to, so I’m hesitant to identify prose fiction that I believe would be particularly well suited to adaptation in anime. I’m a huge fan of H.P. Lovecraft and the pulp fiction writers he inspired. Lovecraft’s work has already influenced anime and manga for decades, in direct adaptations, references, spin-offs, and influences. While not a direct adaptation, the influence of Anne Rice’s iconic vampires are evident in the Night Walker anime series. And I honestly don’t envision stories by other favorite authors of mine including Clive Barker and Kurt Vonnegut Jr. being effective source material for direct anime adaptations.

I’ve never watched a lot of broadcast television. In fact, the only American television series I’ve ever been addicted to was Twin Peaks, which assuredly does not lend itself to animation. Likewise, I’ve never been a deeply rooted fan of American comic books. Sam Keith’s The Maxx has already been adapted into animation fairly successfully. And I’m a fan of Matt Wagner’s early Mage and Grendel stories, but I think both are better suited to either printed page or live action than Japanese animation because they’re both very American stories with foundations in European myths. While I have no doubts that Japanese animators could successful adapt the Mage or Grendel comics, I suspect that Western artists would have a more intimate native grasp of the tone of both stories than an Asian artist.

So I’m left with only one subject that has yet to be addressed by Japanese animation: Star Wars. There have been Japanese produced Star Wars manga, and the American produced Clone Wars animated series was heavily influenced by anime, but there has never been an original anime interpretation of the Star Wars universe. Since the lifespan of Anakin Skywalker has already been exhaustively covered, I get goose bumps when considering the theoretical possibilites of a serious, dramatic, exciting Star Wars anime set during the Old Republic period, perhaps a thousand years before the setting of the Star Wars movies. Considering that the Star Wars universe is already so steeped in Asian influences, from Darth Vader’s armor and helmet reminiscent of samurai battle armor to the bushido-style code of the Jedi and their devotion to the elegant martial art of swordplay, I would imagine that Japanese animators would be particularly capable of adapting Star Wars into anime. I grow giddy at the mere thought of chivalric Jedi battling pitiless and cunning Sith Lords, and masters of the Force so adept that a Star Wars anime could have action sequences similar to the stunning psychic battles of anime like Akira and Angel Cop. The Matrix, another high profile American science fiction film franchise, has been adapted into Japanese animation. Star Wars has been adapted into North American animation several times by Nelvana and the Cartoon Network. But there has yet to be a Japanese animated Star Wars.

Finally, just to address one point made in the question, it’s not the origin of the source idea that determines whether or not something is “anime”; it’s the origin of the actual production. For example, in 1988 Sunrise Studios created a three episode anime adaptation of Robert A. Heinlein’s novel Starship Troopers. Although the source material was American, the adaptation was managed and produced without American influence or interference. So the Starship Troopers anime is assuredly “anime” based on American source material.